Name

Year

Credit

credited As

There is something particularly unnerving about demon possession. It's the idea of something you can't see or control creeping into your body and taking up residence eventually obliterating all you once were and turning you into nothing more than a sack of meat to be manipulated. Then there's also the shrouded ritual around exorcisms: the Latin chants the flesh-sizzling crucifixes and the burning Holy Water. As it turns out exorcism isn't just the domain of Catholics.
The myths and legends of the Jews aren't nearly as well known but their creepy dybbuk goes toe-to-toe with anything other world religions come up with. There are various interpretations of what a dybbuk is or where it comes from — is it a ghost a demon a soul of a sinner? — but in any case it's looking for a body to hang out in for a while. Especially according to the solemn Hasidic Jews in The Possession an innocent young person and even better a young girl.
The central idea in The Possession is that a fancy-looking wooden box bought at a garage sale was specifically created to house a dybbuk that was tormenting its previous owner. Unfortunately it caught the eye of young Emily (Natasha Calis) a sensitive artistic girl who persuades her freshly divorced dad Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Watchmen and Grey's Anatomy) to buy it for her. Never mind the odd carvings on it — that would be Hebrew — or how it's created without seams so it would be difficult to open or why it's an object of fascination for a young girl; Clyde is trying really hard to please his disaffected daughters and do the typical freshly divorced parent dance of trying to please them no matter the cost.
Soon enough the creepy voices calling to Emily from the box convince her to open it up; inside are even creepier personal objects that are just harbingers of what's to come for her her older sister Hannah (Madison Davenport) her mom Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) and even Stephanie's annoying new boyfriend Brett (Grant Show). Clyde and Stephanie squabble over things like pizza for dinner and try to convince each other and themselves that Emily's increasingly odd behavior is that of a troubled adolescent. It's not of course and eventually Clyde enlists the help of the son of a Hasidic rabbi a young man named Tzadok played by the former Hasidic reggae musician Matisyahu to help them perform an exorcism on Emily.
The Possession is not going to join the ranks of The Exorcist in the horror pantheon but it does do a remarkable job of making its characters intelligent and even occasionally droll and it offers up plenty of chills despite a PG-13 rating. Perhaps it's because of that rating that The Possession is so effective; the filmmakers are forced to make the benign scary. Giant moths and flying Torahs take the place of little Reagan violently masturbating with a crucifix in The Exorcist. Gagging and binging on food is also an indicator of Emily's possession — an interesting twist given the anxieties of becoming a woman a girl Emily's age would face. There is something inside her controlling her and she knows it and she is fighting it. The most impressive part of Calis's performance is how she communicates Emily's torment with a few simple tears rolling down her face as the dybbuk's control grows. The camerawork adds to the anxiety; one particularly scary scene uses ordinary glass kitchenware to great effect.
The Possession is a short 92 minutes and it does dawdle in places. It seems as though some of the scenes were juggled around to make the PG-13 cut; the moth infestation scene would have made more sense later in the movie. Some of the problems are solved too quickly or simply and yet it also takes a while for Clyde's character to get with it. Stephanie is a fairly bland character; she makes jewelry and yells at Clyde for not being present in their marriage a lot and then there's a thing with a restraining order that's pretty silly. Emily is occasionally dressed up like your typical horror movie spooky girl with shadowed eyes an over-powdered face and dark clothes; it's much more disturbing when she just looks like an ordinary though ill young girl. The scenes in the heavily Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn look oddly fake and while it's hard to think of who else could have played Tzadok an observant Hasidic Jew who is also an outsider willing to take risks the others will not Matisyahu is not a very good actor. Still the filmmakers should be commended for authenticity insofar as Matisyahu has studied and lived as a Hasidic Jew.
It would be cool if Lionsgate and Ghost House Pictures were to release the R-rated version of the movie on DVD. What the filmmakers have done within the confines of a PG-13 rating is creepy enough to make me curious to see the more adult version. The Possession is no horror superstar and its name is all too forgettable in a summer full of long-gestating horror movies quickly pushed out the door. It's entertaining enough and could even find a broader audience on DVD. Jeffrey Dean Morgan can read the Old Testament to me any time.

There's an allure to imperfection. With his latest drama Lawless director John Hillcoat taps directly into the side of human nature that draws us to it. Hillcoat finds it in Prohibition history a time when the regulations of alcohol consumption were subverted by most of the population; He finds it in the rural landscapes of Virginia: dingy raw and mesmerizing. And most importantly he finds it in his main character Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf) the scrappy third brother of a moonshining family who is desperate to prove his worth. Jack forcefully injects himself into the family business only to discover there's an underbelly to the underbelly. Lawless is a beautiful film that's violent as hell striking in a way only unfiltered Americana could be.
Acting as the driver for his two outlaw brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) isn't enough for Jack. He's enticed by the power of the gangster figure and entranced by what moonshine money can buy. So like any fledgling entrepreneur Jack takes matters into his own hands. Recruiting crippled family friend/distillery mastermind Cricket (Dane DeHaan) the young whippersnapper sets out to brew his own batch sell it to top dog Floyd Banner and make the family rich. The plan works — but it puts the Bondurant boys in over their heads with a new threat: the corrupt law enforcers of Chicago.
Unlike many stories of crime life Lawless isn't about escalation. The movie drifts back and forth leisurely popping in moments like the beats of a great TV episode. One second the Bondurants could be talking shop with their female shopkeep Maggie Beauford (Jessica Chastain). The next Forrest is beating the bloody pulp out of a cop blackmailing their operation. The plot isn't thick; Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave preferring to bask in the landscapes the quiet moments the haunting terror that comes with a life on the other side of the tracks. A feature film doesn't offer enough time for Lawless to build — it recalls cinema-level TV currently playing on outlets like HBO and AMC that have truly spoiled us — but what the duo accomplish is engrossing.
Accompanying the glowing visuals and Cave's knockout workout on the music side (a toe-tapping mix of spirituals bluegrass and the writer/musician's spine-tingling violin) are muted performances from some of Hollywood's rising stars. Despite LaBeouf's off-screen antics he lights up Lawless and nails the in-deep whippersnapper. His playful relationship with a local religious girl (Mia Wasikowska) solidifies him as a leading man but like everything in the movie you want more. Tom Hardy is one of the few performers who can "uurrr" and "mmmnerm" his way through a scene and come out on top. His greatest sparring partner isn't a hulking thug but Chastain who brings out the heart of the impenetrable beast. The real gem of Lawless is Guy Pearce as the Bondurant trio's biggest threat. Shaved eyebrows pristine city clothes and a temper like a rabid wolverine Pearce's Charlie Rakes is the most frightening villain of 2012. He viciously chews up every moment he's on screen. That's even before he starts drawing blood.
Lawless is the perfect movie for the late August haze — not quite the Oscary prestige picture or the summertime shoot-'em-up. It's drama that has its moonshine and swigs it too. Just don't drink too much.
="font-style:>

When you get a chance to talk comedy with someone who hasn't just made a living out of it, but has based his entire life off of it, you're going to walk away with a few noteworthy pearls of wisdom. This was certainly the case in my conversation with Mike Birbiglia, whose semi-autobiographical feature film Sleepwalk with Me reaches theaters on Friday.
The standup comedian has turned an important moment in his life into a book, a one-man show, and now a movie, chronicling his ascension to the standup spotlight in three different media, and earning and achieving different things with each. The core of the story, no matter if it is being told on a stage or a cinema screen, is about the sharing of personal experience, be it funny, painful, or what have you: Birbiglia identifies this focus on the personal to be something that comedy embraces today. How did it become this way, and where will it go in the future? He has his theories on those, as well.
Mike Birbiglia: From the time I started writing the one-man show… that was, like, eight years. And it’s interfacing in the king of all media: movies. Everybody sees it. Everybody has an opinion and weighs in. It’s actually too much to take in. It’s too many outlets, and too much stimuli. What I’m finding is, I’m starting to understand when those big actors like Sean Penn or whoever are like, “I don’t read reviews.” That actually makes sense to me now. It didn’t make sense before. With my play, it got reviewed by twenty outlets, or thirty outlets. But the movie — hundreds of outlets are writing about it. It’s just strange.
Are there any other differences, creatively, between writing your story as a play and turning it into a movie?
Yeah. It’s very different. It’s very much more cinematic, obviously. The dreams are very cinematic. The sleepwalking is very cinematic. It’s a more immersive experience. That’s why I really want people to see it in a theater. One: it’s very immersive, and we spent a long time on the cinematography. Our cinematographer, Adam Beckman, is very brilliant, and did a great job with it. And two: laughter. I’ve seen people watch it alone, and I’ve seen people watch it in a group. You’ve got to watch it in a group. Laughter is a communal activity.
So you’re saying this in terms of films in general?
Yeah. That’s why I love seeing films at festivals. The rooms are packed, and you’re experiencing it like it’s the theater.
I guess that’s why you don’t have one-on-one standup comedians.
[Laughs] Although, I have done that! Or pretty close to it. When you’re starting out, sometimes the audiences are quite small.
The melding of fact and fiction. From what I understand, the play is pretty spot on in terms of the authenticity of your life.
Yes, very close.
But is the movie different? You changed the names…
The movie is like… we changed the names, because it’s not my parents, it’s not my ex-girlfirned. All the stuff that you wouldn’t think is true is true, and all the stuff that’s kind of minutia and convenience for the sake of story, is that. My parents don’t live in Long Island, they live in Massachusetts. But in a movie, it makes more sense to have them live closer. Because you don’t want to spend all your time in a car or on the phone … [Long Island] is actually where my wife’s family is from, so I stole the details from that.
How about casting and directing actors playing characters based off people in your real life?
Well, Carol [Kane] I had met in 2008 when I was casting a pilot for CBS based on my life. It didn’t work out, but that’s how I met her. We became friends and I always thought that she would be great. And James [Rebhorn] — our casting director Jennifer Euston, it was her idea. Shes’ really great. She cast Girls on HBO, Veep on HBO. She said, “What about James Rebhorn?” We looked up his reel and watched him. And oh my God. That guy is amazing!
And he’s been in, like, every movie ever made.
He’s been in every movie ever made. Working with both of those veterans is a real learning experience.
You did say that they’re not your parents. But I’m sure it’s rooted in your real relationship with your parents?
Yeah, there are facets of it. I make it bigger, because it’s a movie and you need to get across an idea quicker, essentially ... Casting Lauren [Ambrose], actually, was my wife Jenny’s idea. She had watched Six Feet Under. I couldn’t afford cable TV at that time. So I hadn’t seen it really. Jen was like, “This actress Lauren Ambrose might be really good.” She showed me clips of her, and I said, “She’s perfect.” Because what we needed from that character was someone who exuded strength and humor at the same time. Ultimately in the story, you don’t want to feel bad for the character. If you feel bad for the character after the breakup, it’s no good. It’s not satisfying. But with a person like Lauren, she just exudes that strength and humor, so that you go, “She’ll be fine.”
She did an excellent job. The thing I remembered her from most was Can't Hardly Wait. I think she has grown a lot.
She’s incredible.
In the beginning of the movie, in terms of your character’s standup, you have the Cookie Monster jokes. And then it shows the evolution to more honest relationship humor. What exactly makes that work?
I actually modeled the comedy career progression after the movie Once. The movie Once did a really good job of showing a character who goes from doing covers to doing originals. That was an interesting progression. He never was bad. Even Matt Pandamiglio. He’s funny in the beginning, but it’s just kind of worthless. It’s like, “Ehh… this guy? Who cares?” As he progresses, he starts being more personal. Essentially going from more generic to less generic, and more personal. That’s why it works. I hate it when in movies, someone goes from being terrible at something to just being great at it. And you don’t quite follow how other than through a montage. But with our movie, I feel like, you kind of get it. You go, “That’s is the same guy, he just kind of clicked with something.”
Most of the comedy is relationship-based in the later acts of the film. I know a lot of your standup comedy, and not all of it is. The thing that got me into your standup was the mattress bit.
Oh yeah. “What I should have said was ‘nothing’.”
Did you feel like the story didn’t do a service to that kind of comedy? It’s still anecdotal, and it’s still real, but it’s not as emotional.
I really love all types of comedy. It’s just kind of where my personal journey has gone. Two Drink Mike is very different from My Secret Public Journal Live, which is very different from Sleepwalk with Me Live. My three albums are very much in evolution. And I’ve been lucky. My fans have come with me in that evolution. I’ll see if they come with me on the film evolution. I love Two Drink Mike. I still think it’s a good album. I like the jokes on it. I feel like you, as an artist, one thing you try to do is avoid doing the same things over and over again. Unless you want to make money. In which case, you keep doing it over and over and over again.
I think standup is bigger than it’s ever been.
It is!
What does your movie and its story say about contemporary standup, and becoming a comedian?
It’s funny. I do feel like we’re in something of a comedy boom right now, and it’s completely coincidental that I made this movie in this period. I think that the period we’re in right now is interesting because it’s post-Seinfeld. I love Jerry Seinfeld, but he marked this period of observational comedy, and I feel like it seeped into popular culture. Every commercial was observational. Every poster ad was observational. I think it was oversaturation of that type of humor.
What me and — all separately on our own journeys — me and Louis C.K. and Marc Maron, Doug Stanhope, Maria Bamford… a whole lot of comedians have kind of gone against that. We’ve gone in this direction of, “What’s our personal story to tell?” I think there’s a certain way in which, when you do that, when you’re saying something vulnerable about yourself, you’re actually giving a gift to the audience. Because you’re letting yourself be judged in a way that people can just go, “You suck!” And you’re just like “I know! I’m telling you that! I’ve already told you that! I’ve fallen down, and you’re just kicking me!”
The great possibility, if you do it well, is if you tell stories about yourself that are vulnerable, people feel more comfortable opening up about their vulnerable stories. I think that that’s an important thing for people to experience. We see the character do that in this film. It seems like people have, so far, been taking to that aspect of it.
Absolutely. And with the popularity of Louis, and everything you said — why do you think this is happening now?
Partly, because it’s post-Seinfeld. It’s like the opposite of Seinfeld. I think the pendulum will swing again. I’m sure it’ll go somewhere else. It’ll go to absurdist comedy. Or physical comedy. It’ll go somewhere else. Right now it’s here. I’m not sure why. But I think it has to do with — if I were to guess, and I might be completely wrong — but I would say, it has to do with the fact that these days, with technology as it is, you can manufacture almost anything. You can make anything seem like anything. In other words, you can put a series of clips together on the news, and all of a sudden it’s like, “That’s crazy that that person said that!” But they didn’t even say that! It’s just edited in that way.
And there’s CGI, and that changes the game. You see movies, and you’re like, “I don’t even know if that was animated, or if that is real. I literally don’t know!” And I feel like there’s something about confessional comedy that is refreshing in light of that being the cultural norm. There’s something about one person telling a group of people, “Listen to this thing that happened to me.” And you taking them at their word. Somehow, that’s special.
[Photo Credit: IFC Films]
More:
Joss Whedon Wants You to Boycott Mike Birbiglia
'Parks &amp; Rec' Guys Get New Detective Show, Which Sounds Instantly Hilarious
NBC Can't Catch a Break: Jay Leno's Jokes, #NBCFail and 5 Other Criticisms

Dan Harmon moves to CBS: Well, that didn't take long at all. After being ousted from NBC's Community last spring following a super-awkward voicemail fracas with Chevy Chase, opining showrunner Dan Harmon has signed a script deal at CBS for an as-yet-undeveloped comedy. Harmon's swanky new ink comes right after his almost identical development deal at Fox (another shocker). Could ABC be next? [Deadline]
Baby drama: Former Will &amp; Grace funnyman Sean Hayes will join NBC's comedy Up All Night for the show's second season, playing Maya Rudolph's character's former accompanist. In other baby-related news, Melanie Griffith will appear on Fox's Raising Hope as Sabrina's mother, while Griffith's mother Tippi Hedren (of The Birds fame) will guest as Sabrina's dead grandmother. [THR]
America hasn't got Osbourne: Sharon Osbourne revealed to reporters at CBS's TCA panel (where she was representing The Talk) that she has not yet been asked back to the judging table for the eighth season of America's Got Talent. "They've asked Howard [Stern] back," she said. "They haven't asked me back. Who knows?" Osbourne recently wrote an enigmatic tweet which suggested that the longtime judge (she's been on the show since Season 2) would not be returning for the new cycle. [Deadline]
Glee's new class: Showrunner Ryan Murphy is well under way with replacing his outgoing cast with a bevy of fresh-faced freshmen who will step into the choir room for the fourth season of the Fox hit. Melissa Benoist (Homeland) and newcomer Becca Tobin have been cast as Marley and Kitty, two new McKinley High students whom we can assume have killer chops and a desperate desire to win Nationals.
And the rest: CSI's Gary Dourdan will recur on ABC's Mistresses (airing summer 2013) along with United States of Tara's Matthew Del Negro... Drop Dead Diva star Josh Stamberg will guest on Season 8 of CBS's procedural Criminal Minds as a desperate father whose family has been abducted... Better Off Ted's Jay Harrington is set for a six-episode arc on Hot In Cleveland, playing opposite Valerie Bertinelli as a love interest for Melanie... Aisha Hines will recur on The CW's upcoming thriller Cult as a homicide detective. [Deadline]
Follow Marc on Twitter @MarcSnetiker
[Photo Credit: Dan Harmon/Instagram]
MORE:
TV Tidbits: Ryan Reynolds, Ricky Martin and John Legend Strike TV Deals
TV Tidbits: CBS Nabs Michael Madsen, Ken Leung and Sarah Jones
TV Tidbits: Laurence Fishburne Joins 'Hannibal,' Victoria is Back on 'How I Met Your Mother'

While recent animated blockbusters have aimed to viewers of all ages starting with fantastical concepts and breathtaking visuals but tackling complex emotional issues along the way Ice Age: Continental Drift is crafted especially for the wee ones — and it works. Venturing back to prehistoric times once again the fourth Ice Age film paints broad strokes on the theme of familial relationships throwing in plenty of physical comedy along the way. The movie isn't that far off from one of the many Land Before Time direct-to-video sequels: not particularly innovative or necessary but harmless thrilling fun for anyone with a sense of humor. Unless they have a particular distaste for wooly mammoths the kids will love it.
Ice Age: Continental Drift continues to snowball its cartoon roster bringing back the original film's trio (Ray Romano as Manny the Mammoth Denis Leary as Diego the Sabertooth Tiger and John Leguizamo as Sid the Sloth) new faces acquired over the course of the franchise (Queen Latifah as Manny's wife Ellie) and a handful of new characters to spice things up everyone from Nicki Minaj as Manny's daughter Steffie to Wanda Sykes as Sid's wily grandma. The whole gang is living a pleasant existence as a herd with Manny's biggest problem being playing overbearing dad to the rebellious daughter. Teen mammoths they always want to go out and play by the waterfall! Whippersnappers.
The main thrust of the film comes when Scratch the Rat (whose silent comedy routines in the vein of Tex Avery/WB cartoons continue to be the series highlight) accidentally cracks the singular continent Pangea into the world we know today. Manny Diego and Sid find themselves stranded on an iceberg once again forced on a road trip journey of survival. The rest of the herd embarks to meet them giving Steffie time to realize the true meaning of friendship with help from her mole pal Louis (Josh Gad).
The ham-handed lessons may drag for those who've passed Kindergarten but Ice Age: Continental Drift is a lot of fun when the main gang crosses paths with a group of villainous pirates. (Back then monkeys rabbits and seals were hitting the high seas together pillaging via boat-shaped icebergs. Obviously.) Quickly Ice Age becomes an old school pirate adventure complete with maritime navigation buried treasure and sword fights. Gut (Peter Dinklage) an evil ape with a deadly... fingernail leads the evil-doers who pose an entertaining threat for the familiar bunch. Jennifer Lopez pops by as Gut's second-in-command Shira the White Tiger and the film's two cats have a chase scene that should rouse even the most apathetic adults. Hearing Dinklage (of Game of Thrones fame) belt out a pirate shanty may be worth the price of admission alone.
With solid action (that doesn't need the 3D addition) cartoony animation and gags out the wazoo Ice Age: Continental Drift is entertainment to enjoy with the whole family. Revelatory? Not quite. Until we get a feature length silent film of Scratch's acorn pursuit we may never see a "classic" Ice Age film but Continental Drift keeps it together long enough to tell a simple story with delightful flare that should hold attention spans of any length. Massive amounts of sugar not even required.
[Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox]

The latest trailer for the upcoming period piece Gangster Squad looks somewhat similar to the version we saw almost exactly two months ago — but is no less exciting.
In the clip, all the big names from the all-star cast — including Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, and Nick Nolte — and bits from their showy performances are once again on display, as is the same Jay-Z song, "Oh My God," which would seem to clash with a crime drama set several decades ago but instead serves to vibrantly punctuate the trailer toward the end.
The "based on a true story" film, directed by Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer, follows the LAPD's struggle to keep East Coast Mafioso like Mickey Cohen (Penn) out of the City of Angels during the 1940s and '50s. Check out the trailer below, and don't miss Gangster Squad when it hits theaters on Sept. 7.
More:
'Gangster Squad': Ryan Gosling Drinks, Womanizes, and Gets Shot At - PICS
'Gangster Squad': Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, and Josh Brolin Hang Out with Guns - TRAILER
Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling Gun Up the Action in 'Gangster Squad'

Widening the thematic scope without sacrificing too much of the claustrophobia that made the original 1979 Alien universally spooky Prometheus takes the trophy for this summer's most adult-oriented blockbuster entertainment. The movie will leave your mouth agape for its entire runtime first with its majestic exploration of an alien planet and conjectures on the origins of the human race second with its gross-out body horror that leaves no spilled gut to the imagination. Thin characters feel more like pawns in Scott's sci-fi prequel but stunning visuals shocking turns and grand questions more than make up for the shallow ensemble. "Epic" comes in many forms. Prometheus sports all of them.
Based on their discovery of a series of cave drawings all sharing a similar painted design Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie (Logan Marshall-Green) are recruited by Weyland to head a mission to another planet one they believe holds the answers to the creation of life on Earth. Along for the journey are Vickers (Charlize Theron) the ruthless Weyland proxy Janek (Idris Elba) a blue collar captain a slew of faceless scientists and David (Michael Fassbender) HAL 9000-esque resident android who awakens the crew of spaceship Prometheus when they arrive to their destination. Immediately upon descent there's a discovery: a giant mound that's anything but natural. The crew immediately prepares to scope out the scene zipping up high-tech spacesuits jumping in futuristic humvees and heading out to the site. What they discover are the awe-inspiring creations of another race. What they bring back to the ship is what they realize may kill their own.
The first half of Prometheus could be easily mistaken for Steven Spielberg's Alien a sense of wonder glowing from every frame not too unlike Close Encounters. Scott takes full advantage of his fictional settings and imbues them with a reality that makes them even more tantalizing. He shoots the vistas of space and the alien planet like National Geographic porn and savors the interior moments on board the Prometheus full of hologram maps sleeping pods and do-it-yourself surgery modules with the same attention. Prometheus is beautiful shot in immersive 3D that never dampers Dariusz Wolski's sharp photography. Scott's direction seems less interested in the run-or-die scenario set up in the latter half of the film but the film maintains tension and mood from beginning to end. It all just gets a bit…bloodier.
Jon Spaihts' and Damon Lindelof's script doesn't do the performers any favors shuffling them to and fro between the ship and the alien construction without much room for development. Reveals are shoehorned in without much setup (one involving Theron's Vickers that's shockingly mishandled) but for the most part the ensemble is ready to chomp into the script's bigger picture conceits. Rapace is a physical performer capable of pulling off a grisly scene involving an alien some sharp objects and a painful procedure (sure to be the scene of the blockbuster season. Among the rest of the crew Fassbender's David stands out as the film's revelatory performance delivering a digestible ambiguity to his mechanical man that playfully toys with expectations from his first entrance. The creature effects in Prometheus will wow you but even Fassbender's smallest gesture can send the mind spinning. The power of his smile packs more of a punch than any facehugger.
Much like Lindelof's Lost Prometheus aims to explore the idea of asking questions and seeking answers and on Scott's scale it's a tremendous unexpected ride. A few ideas introduced to spur action fall to the way side in the logic department but with a clear mission and end point Prometheus works as a sweeping sci-fi that doesn't require choppy editing or endless explosions to keep us on the edge of our seats. Prometheus isn't too far off from the Alien xenomorphs: born from existing DNA of another creature the movie breaks out as its own beast. And it's wilder than ever.
="font-style:>

As the world knows, Kanye West is a big fan of Kanye West. Thus, it stands to reason that if Kanye West could hang out with Kanye West, he would. In fact, some of the more vehement conspiracy theorists believe that the music artist has been climbing the ladder of financial prominence in order to fund research for his very own cloning expedition. While West might still be far from actually unleashing an army of Yeezys (Yeezi?) unto the world, he seems to be living out his fantasy in the new video for his song "Mercy."
Below you can watch West's Cruel Summer track, which, at one point in the video, features three Kanye Wests performing at the same time! In other words, everybody's dream. In addition to Kanye, Kanye, and Kanye, the video also features performances by 2 Chainz, Big Sean &amp; Pusha-T. Check it out!
Kanye West
[Photo Credit: WENN]
More:
Kardashians Kruise, Khurn Out New Video — VIDEO
Kanye West &amp; Jay-Z Debut 'No Church in the Wild' VIDEO
Rush Limbaugh Nicknames the President 'Barack Hussein Kardashian'

A kids’ movie without the cheeky jokes for adults is like a big juicy BLT without the B… or the T. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted may have a title that sounds like it was made up in a cartoon sequel laboratory but when it comes to serving up laughs just think of the film as a BLT with enough extra bacon to satisfy even the wildest of animals — or even a parent with a gaggle of tots in tow. Yes even with that whole "Afro Circus" nonsense.
It’s not often that we find exhaustively franchised films like the Madagascar set that still work after almost seven years. Despite being spun off into TV shows and Christmas specials in addition to its big screen adventures the series has not only maintained its momentum it has maintained the part we were pleasantly surprised by the first time around: great jokes.
In this third installment of the series – the trilogy-maker if you will – directing duo Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath add Conrad Vernon (director Monsters Vs. Aliens) to the helm as our trusty gang swings back into action. Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) are stuck in Africa after the hullaballoo of Madagascar 2 and they’ll do anything to get back to their beloved New York. Just a hop skip and a jump away in Monte Carlo the penguins are doing their usual greedy schtick but the zoo animals catch up with them just in time to catch the eye of the sinister animal control stickler Captain Dubois (Frances McDormand). And just like that the practically super human captain is chasing them through Monte Carlo and the rest of Europe in hopes of planting Alex’s perfectly coifed lion head on her wall of prized animals.
Luckily for pint-sized viewers Dubois’ terrifying presence is balanced out by her sheer inhuman strength uncanny guiles and Stretch Armstrong flexibility (ah the wonder of cartoons) as well as Alex’s escape plan: the New Yorkers run away with the European circus. While Dubois’ terrifying Doberman-like presence looms over the entire film a sense of levity (which is a word the kiddies might learn from Stiller’s eloquent lion) comes from the plan for salvation in which the circus animals and the zoo animals band together to revamp the circus and catch the eye of a big-time American agent. Sure the pacing throughout the first act is practically nonexistent running like a stampede through the jungle but by the time we're palling around under the big top the film finds its footing.
The visual splendor of the film (and man is there a champion size serving of it) the magnificent danger and suspense is enhanced to great effect by the addition of 3D technology – and not once is there a gratuitous beverage or desperate Crocodile Dundee knife waved in our faces to prove its worth. The caveat is that the soundtrack employs a certain infectious Katy Perry ditty at the height of the 3D spectacular so parents get ready to hear that on repeat until the leaves turn yellow.
But visual delights and adventurous zoo animals aside Madagascar 3’s real strength is in its script. With the addition of Noah Baumbach (Greenberg The Squid and the Whale) to the screenwriting team the script is infused with a heightened level of almost sarcastic gravitas – a welcome addition to the characteristically adult-friendly reference-heavy humor of the other Madagascar films. To bring the script to life Paramount enlisted three more than able actors: Vitaly the Siberian tiger (Bryan Cranston) Gia the Leopard (Jessica Chastain) and Stefano the Italian Sealion (Martin Short). With all three actors draped in European accents it might take viewers a minute to realize that the cantankerous tiger is one and the same as the man who plays an Albuquerque drug lord on Breaking Bad but that makes it that much sweeter to hear him utter slant-curse words like “Bolshevik” with his usual gusto.
Between the laughs the terror of McDormand’s Captain Dubois and the breathtaking virtual European tour the Zoosters’ accidental vacation is one worth taking. Madagascar 3 is by no means an insta-classic but it’s a perfectly suited for your Summer-at-the-movies oasis.